Why doesn't the VR format on DVD-RW not play?

[lingoguysw5]

I have recently purchased a JVC Recorder HDD and attempted to play the above formatted disc once finalized, since it's supposed to offer more flexibility, but it will only play in my JVC Recorder. However if I play the less flexible DVD-RW disc in VIDEO MODE it will play on both my JVC and my other DVD Player which is also DVD-RW compatible. I really don't know what purpose the different formats serve.

If anyone knows the reasons why please let me know thanks Clive

[hech54]

You've read something wrong somewhere I'm afraid. The flexibility associated with VR mode has to do with editing....not playability.

[lingoguysw5]

In case someone else has the same qusestion I have solved it. In the small print it mentioned that the player not only needs to be DVD-RW compatible but also VR MODE compatible as well and my bedroom one is only DVD-RW compatible So it's best if it's for playback on most DVD players to finalize it in VIDEO MODE. When I was referring to the flexibility I did mean the editing flexibility which by the way is not much .

[Cornucopia]

Just a note to remember:

You can't just create an RW in VR mode and then finalize it in Video mode, it has to be initialized in Video mode 1st before the recording and the finalizing.

In essence, you're stuck with making the decision up front--do you want it most compatible for playback or more flexible for editing?

(The only true way around this is to import the VRO's to a computer and demux, rename, and reauthor as VOB's)

Scott

[lingoguysw5]

Thanks for the input but with my JVC DVD HD Recorder it finalises it in accordance to whatever mode's selected and at the very most I would just need to copy it on to my pc and download it to a dvd+r/rw disc and it will play. The importing of the VROS and re-authoring to VOBS sounds too complicated for a novice like me, so I will just do it that way and besides even a VR has to be finalized to play in a compatible DVD player, so to add a further film I'd have to erase and reformat anyway.

[lingoguysw5]

Am I going mad here? Yesterday I managed to view VR mode and my finalised DVD-RW disc on my other player but have since deleted and reformatted it in the same mode as before, then dubbed the playlist footage, finalised it as per instruction, shoved it in my player and today it won't play instead it reads as a folder with the name DVD_RAV whatever that means. I can't see what I have done differently from the first time. Can you? I am almost certain that I managed to play it in VR mode the first time. (By the way it does play in JVC) whatever mode & finalised or not.

Created playlists take longer to dub and original playlists take longer to finaliase. Not like the promotional video 60mins dubbing to dvd in 2 mins.

Look forward to hearing some feedback

[Cornucopia]

Am I going mad here? Yesterday I managed to view VR mode and my finalised DVD-RW disc on my other player but have since deleted and reformatted it in the same mode as before, then dubbed the playlist footage, finalised it as per instruction, shoved it in my player and today it won't play instead it reads as a folder with the name DVD_RAV whatever that means. I can't see what I have done differently from the first time. Can you? I am almost certain that I managed to play it in VR mode the first time. (By the way it does play in JVC) whatever mode & finalised or not.

Created playlists take longer to dub and original playlists take longer to finaliase. Not like the promotional video 60mins dubbing to dvd in 2 mins.

Look forward to hearing some feedback

Ok, here's a few guesses...

Your 1st time, you used an RW disc. Maybe your recorder can "re-initialize" on the fly if you had originally formatted/initialized as VRMode and then finalized as VideoMode. Never heard of this, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility. Using an RW disc would allow the material to be re-written differently without losing available space.
Not so with an R disc (+ or - doesn't matter here).
If your 2nd time around, you used an R disc, it'll be stuck at whatever you initialized it with.
My Pioneer recorder has somewhat of a failsafe in that it only initializes R discs in VideoMode, but that may not hold true for all recorders. I never knew why until now.

VRMode has the DVD_RAV (as in "Realtime Audio-Video") folder. This is where the VRO (as in "Video Realtime Object) files will be. This is contrasted with, of course, the usual VIDEO_TS folder with IFO, BUP, and VOB files. Both VOB and VRO type files are a sort of MPEG2 Super-ProgramStream. Very similar, but the packs and packets aren't identical.

And BTW, most ALL recorders will play their own discs in unfinalized mode (whether R or RW), but none others'. This holds true for AudioCD recorders, as well.

If you've got a few bucks to spare, do a few tests and tell us how it went...

Good luck,

Scott

[lingoguysw5]

Well thanks for your input Scott however I have concluded that VR MODE will only play on my JVC and possibly I was mistaken to have thought that it had played on the latter when in fact it must have been a VIDEO MODE disc, since this seems to read on all players. Unless of course a brand new disc that has never been formatted would do the trick on all players. I feel almost certain! that these VR formatted files did read on my other players. The reason why I am so determined is so I can watch them from my bedroom and also cos they don't take ages to dub. Apart from that I am impressed by the JVC recorder. The instructions are crap. Does anyone know of a JVC forum?

[Cornucopia]

What's the model #?

[lingoguysw5]

The model of my JVC recorder is the brand new DR-MH30S Hard Disk Driver Recorder and the other recorder in question is a Rimax Mpeg4 Multi-Player reads ISO, XVID, DVD, SVCD,VCD, CD, MP3, DVD-R, CD-R, MPEG4, DVD-RW, CD-RW, Kodak CD and the other model is a PHILIPS DVD622.

I am sure that I must have just got my wires crossed and that VR MODE doesn't and perhaps never did play on the above players. It would be helpful if it did as I can finalize and unfinalise to re-edit to add on more movies etc.

[gshelley61]

The importing of the VROS and re-authoring to VOBS sounds too complicated for a novice like me, so I will just do it that way and besides even a VR has to be finalized to play in a compatible DVD player, so to add a further film I'd have to erase and reformat anyway.

I can't think of a regular DVD player that will read and play VR format discs, but there may be some out there. DVD-Video format is the industry standard for DVD movies, etc. The VOB file structure, for whatever reasons, is much easier and faster to deal with for editing and re-authoring on the PC - and is less buggy and more compatible than VRO files. There is nothing all that complicated about taking a finalized DVD-RW from your JVC, popping into your PC, trimming out the bits you don't want or need (like commercials, laserdisc side changes, etc.) then reauthoring and burning a final DVD. TMPGEnc DVD Author is one of the easiest programs of this type to use, and it takes the VOB's recorded by the JVC in directly.

[lingoguysw5]

Well that's just it gshelley I can only do what you say with my JVC.

There is nothing all that complicated about taking a finalized DVD-RW from your JVC, popping into your PC, trimming out the bits you don't want or need (like commercials, laserdisc side changes, etc.) then reauthoring and burning a final DVD. TMPGEnc DVD Author is one of the easiest programs of this type to use, and it takes the VOB's recorded by the JVC in directly.

Doing the editing with the recorder isn't the problem it's the VR format which I would naturally prefer but someone did mention a Cyberlink Power producer which would solve the problem to in reading VR files with XP.